For weeks, international mediators – mainly Qatar, the US and Egypt – have been trying to reach a ceasefire before the start of Ramadan. Negotiations continued in Cairo over the weekend and are scheduled to continue on Monday. Egyptian state television said on Monday that there had been “significant progress”.
The start of Ramadan puts Hamas and Israel under pressure, said ORF correspondent Karim El-Gawhary. The people of the Gaza Strip await humanitarian aid. Thus, Hamas demanded – mainly due to its position in the Gaza Strip – at least 500 trucks with aid deliveries per day. This would be the situation before the war. Starving Palestinians to death during Ramadan celebrations would in turn bring problems to Israel internationally and especially in the Islamic world, El-Gawhary said on Monday on the Ö1 Morning Journal.
Netanyahu: “We will not surrender”
There are negotiated proposals on the table that would suspend fighting in the Gaza Strip for six weeks. Hamas is expected to release around 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for 400 Palestinians in Israeli custody. However, both sides make additional demands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Hamas to surrender ahead of the new round of negotiations on a hostage deal. “We are making great efforts to succeed, but one thing is clear to you: we will not capitulate to Hamas' delusional demands,” he said in Tel Aviv on Sunday night.
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What might the future of the Gaza Strip be like?
Netanyahu was adamant. It is too early to say whether there will be a concept for an agreement in the coming days. He rejects “international pressure to end the war” before Israel has achieved all its objectives. With or without a new agreement, “we will fight until total victory”. According to a Haaretz report on Monday, right-wing extremist Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is calling for an end to negotiations. Instead, it is necessary to move to “a new phase of intense fighting”.
Hamas does not want to publish a list of hostages
There is an impasse in negotiations. Israel, for example, has a list of Palestinians who should not be released and wants information about the hostages. Hamas only wants to grant this once the ceasefire is in effect. Therefore, no Israeli representatives will participate in the negotiations on Monday.
The London-based Qatari daily Al Araby Al Jadid quoted a senior Hamas official as saying that his organization would not be forced to release a list of hostages: “There is a high price to pay for this, in the form of alleviating the suffering of the people People in Gaza and a comprehensive ceasefire.” In an interview with the BBC, a Hamas political official also said that no list could be presented because Hamas itself did not know which of the hostages were still alive and where they were.
Cairo: hostage deal talks again
Negotiations on a hostage agreement and a ceasefire in the Gaza war continue in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Israel is not participating in the negotiations for now.
According to Israeli media reports, there are doubts whether an agreement before the start of Ramadan will still be possible. Thus, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jahja Sinwar, is deliberately trying to sabotage the negotiations in order to provoke unrest throughout the Middle East during the month of fasting.
Harris: “doesn’t make excuses”
In the United States, Israel's closest ally, the tone toward Israel has become more tense. US Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire on Sunday: “Our hearts are broken (…) for all the innocent people in Gaza suffering from what is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe.” The conditions are inhumane. She called on Israel to allow significantly more aid into the coastal zone and to open new border crossings. There are no “excuses” for this.
Harris will meet with Netanyahu rival and Israeli war cabinet minister Benni Ganz on Monday. He traveled to Washington without Netanyahu's consent, which, according to media reports, caused internal criticism. Unlike Netanyahu, Ganz is pushing for a deal. The release of the hostages is more urgent than the destruction of Hamas, which Netanyahu has declared his goal. A meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled for Tuesday.
Türk warns about forest fire
Everything must be done to avoid a major conflagration, UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk said on Monday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The war between Israel and Hamas has already spread to neighboring countries: “I am deeply concerned that any spark from this powder keg could lead to a much larger conflagration.”